When: Thursday, June 30th, 4:00pm
Where: 6305 Elysian Fields, New Orleans, La. In front of Representative Jared Brosset's office. Rep. Brosset voted against HB 389.
Are some in our Louisiana legislature a vassal for the oil, gas and chemical industry to the detriment of our citizens?
In the wake of the BP disaster, fishermen and women who worked for BP during the disaster are now ill from chemical exposure. Some residents of Louisiana who live near the coast are also ill. Are some in the Louisiana legislature indifferent to the fate of our residents on the Gulf coast?
The Louisiana legislature defeated two key bills this past session that potentially would have a direct impact on the health of residents. Monday, June 14, the Louisiana House of Representatives voted against creating a medical-monitoring program designed to assure that Gulf Coast residents exposed to oil-related chemicals will have their blood tested.
House Bill 389 by Rep. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, was intended to address challenges faced by people who signed their rights away to BP in return for an immediate cash payment. In effect, the bill voided those agreements.
The Louisiana legislature also voted to defeat SB 97, which would have banned the use of toxic dispersants in Louisiana waters. This bill was introduced by Louisiana State Senator A.G. Crowe of Slidell. The deteriorating health of Louisiana residents on the coast many believe can be directly tied to the massive use of Corexit to "disperse" the oil during the BP disaster in the months following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
Witnesses who were present for the vote report there was heavy lobbying against both bills by the oil, gas and chemical industries. The Louisiana Chemical Association, the ammonia producers, and Mid Continent Oil and Gas Association, were present and lobbying, particularly against the passage of SB 97.
We ask the Louisiana state legislature, why do you turn your backs on residents who have become ill from exposure to the toxic Corexit and petrochemicals? To use the excuse that HB 389 might have been applied to other chemical exposure events in our state is cowardly. Aren't all of our residents deserving of protection from negligent and criminal actions of the oil, gas and chemical industry?
We issue the following demands:
1. That the Louisiana legislature go back to the drawing board and recognize that there is an epidemic of illness on the Gulf coast in the wake of the BP disaster, and residents need immediate health testing and treatment.
2. That the Louisiana legislature recognize that by permitting the use of Corexit in state waters resulted in massive chemical poisoning of the people of Louisiana, and that dispersants must be banned completely.
3. Further, we call on Governor Bobby Jindal to step up to the plate and do the right thing for the people of this state: the Department of Health and Hospitals must be compelled to recognize that we have a health crisis on our hands on the Gulf coast as a result of massive exposure to the chemicals associated with the BP disaster. Immediate medical testing and treatment must be made available to those residents in need.
4. The State and Federal government have the resources to help the people, if their priorities are in the right place. Residents of the Gulf coast are sick, and some are dying, and they can't wait any longer.
Louisiana legislature and Governor Bobby Jindal, just whom do you represent?
For more information, contact the Emergency Committee to Stop the Gulf Oil Disaster, Elizabeth Cook, 504-231-8789, or Robert Sullivan, 757-642-8607
www.stopgulfoildisaster.org
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